Louis Stokes: “Mr. Chairman, this is a bad amendment. It is a bad amendment because if the Members of this House were to vote for this…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is a bad amendment. It is a bad amendment because if the Members of this House were to vote for this amendment, it would certainly show irresponsibility. This is because earlier today the House accepted a 0.4 percent across-the-board reduction amendment sponsored by the gentleman from Arizona. I think we need to take a moment and just understand what that amendment has already done as an across-the-board reduction amendment. The Stump amendment cuts $79 million from HUD, an area of the budget that has already been cut $2.3 billion. It cut $26 million from EPA, an area that already had been cut $494 million. It further cuts $54 million from NASA, which has already been cut $1.1 billion. Now, the offerer of the amendment would have us think this is just a 1.9-percent small reduction that does not amount to anything. But we have to consider the amounts already cut from these important areas and add to it the fact that, as the chairman of the subcommittee has just said, this 1.9 percent is not so small. It cuts VA medical care, which was protected from reduction under the Stump amendment. This amendment cuts medical care by $323 million, an area that all day long through one amendment after another we have protected on behalf of the veterans. This one hurts the veterans. It cuts HUD, in addition to the cuts of the Stump amendment, by $374 million.”